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The Blue Afternoon
- Narrated by: Kate Handford
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction
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Trio
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Hannah Arterton
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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A producer. A novelist. An actress. It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling, our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' '60s British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives. As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will.
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Not a bad story. Abysmally read
- By S on 29-10-20
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Any Human Heart
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Darren Boyd
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, and Logan Mountstuart's - stretching across the 20th century - is a rich tapestry of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in '60s New York, Logan mixes with the men and women who shape his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.
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Dull, uninspiring and superficial
- By Ms on 29-11-20
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Brazzaville Beach
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On Brazzaville Beach, on the edge of Africa, Hope Clearwater ponders the strange circumstances that led her to leave her husband, John, and his mathematical obsessions in England and venture to Africa to help world-renowned scientist Eugene Mallabar with his studies of wild chimps. But the more Hope studies Mallabar, the more she comes to believe that something isn't right. That behind Mallabar and his obsessive work there lies another more sinister truth: one that might also help explain Hope's reasons for leaving England.
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Ordinary Thunderstorms
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: John Heffernan
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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One May evening in London, as a result of a chance encounter and a split-second decision, the young climatologist Adam Kindred loses everything - home, job, reputation, passport, credit cards, money - never to get them back. With the police and a hit man in merciless pursuit, Adam has no choice but to go underground, joining the ranks of the disappeared, struggling to understand how his life has unravelled so spectacularly.
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Love Is Blind
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Love Is Blind by William Boyd. Love Is Blind is William Boyd's sweeping, heart-stopping new novel. Set at the end of the 19th century, it follows the fortunes of Brodie Moncur, a young Scottish musician, about to embark on the story of his life. When Brodie is offered a job in Paris, he seizes the chance to flee Edinburgh and his tyrannical clergyman father, and begin a wildly different new chapter in his life. In Paris, a fateful encounter with a famous pianist irrevocably changes his future - and sparks an obsessive love affair with a beautiful Russian soprano, Lika Blum.
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Brilliant
- By Sarklet on 14-10-18
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The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: William Boyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth depicts the random encounters that bring the past bubbling to the surface, the impulsive decisions that irrevocably shape a life and the endless hesitations and loss of nerve that wickedly complicate it. These funny, surprising and strangely moving stories are a resounding confirmation of Boyd's powers as one of our most original and compelling storytellers.
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Get on with the next one!
- By Christina on 14-11-17
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Trio
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Hannah Arterton
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A producer. A novelist. An actress. It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling, our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' '60s British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives. As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will.
-
-
Not a bad story. Abysmally read
- By S on 29-10-20
-
Any Human Heart
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Darren Boyd
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, and Logan Mountstuart's - stretching across the 20th century - is a rich tapestry of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in '60s New York, Logan mixes with the men and women who shape his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.
-
-
Dull, uninspiring and superficial
- By Ms on 29-11-20
-
Brazzaville Beach
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Pippa Bennett-Warner
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Brazzaville Beach, on the edge of Africa, Hope Clearwater ponders the strange circumstances that led her to leave her husband, John, and his mathematical obsessions in England and venture to Africa to help world-renowned scientist Eugene Mallabar with his studies of wild chimps. But the more Hope studies Mallabar, the more she comes to believe that something isn't right. That behind Mallabar and his obsessive work there lies another more sinister truth: one that might also help explain Hope's reasons for leaving England.
-
Ordinary Thunderstorms
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: John Heffernan
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One May evening in London, as a result of a chance encounter and a split-second decision, the young climatologist Adam Kindred loses everything - home, job, reputation, passport, credit cards, money - never to get them back. With the police and a hit man in merciless pursuit, Adam has no choice but to go underground, joining the ranks of the disappeared, struggling to understand how his life has unravelled so spectacularly.
-
Love Is Blind
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Love Is Blind by William Boyd. Love Is Blind is William Boyd's sweeping, heart-stopping new novel. Set at the end of the 19th century, it follows the fortunes of Brodie Moncur, a young Scottish musician, about to embark on the story of his life. When Brodie is offered a job in Paris, he seizes the chance to flee Edinburgh and his tyrannical clergyman father, and begin a wildly different new chapter in his life. In Paris, a fateful encounter with a famous pianist irrevocably changes his future - and sparks an obsessive love affair with a beautiful Russian soprano, Lika Blum.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Sarklet on 14-10-18
-
The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: William Boyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth depicts the random encounters that bring the past bubbling to the surface, the impulsive decisions that irrevocably shape a life and the endless hesitations and loss of nerve that wickedly complicate it. These funny, surprising and strangely moving stories are a resounding confirmation of Boyd's powers as one of our most original and compelling storytellers.
-
-
Get on with the next one!
- By Christina on 14-11-17
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Armadillo
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 11 hrs
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One winter morning, Lorimer Black - young, good-looking, but with a somewhat troubled expression - goes to keep a perfectly routine business appointment and finds a hanged man. A bad start to the day by anyone's standards and an ominous portent. For Lorimer works in the only-slightly corrupt business of financial adjusting, and he is about to learn that it is much uglier - and even more crooked - than he ever imagined. Suddenly, he's being unfairly blamed for all kinds of irregularities. Next, his life is threatened.
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Mr Wilder and Me
- By: Jonathan Coe
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
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In the heady summer of 1977, a naïve young woman called Calista sets out from Athens to venture into the wider world. On a Greek island that has been turned into a film set, she finds herself working for the famed Hollywood director Billy Wilder, about whom she knows almost nothing. But the time she spends in this glamorous, unfamiliar new life will change her for good.
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Enjoyable melding of fact and fiction
- By Mrs Kay Smele on 12-01-21
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Sweet Caress
- The Many Lives of Amory Clay
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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It is Amory's photographer uncle, Greville, who gives her a camera and some rudimentary lessons in photography and unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future. Her search for life, love and artistic expression will take her to the demimonde of Berlin of the late 20s, to New York of the 30s, to the Blackshirt riots in London and to France in the Second World War, where she becomes one of the first women war photographers.
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Not the best Boyd
- By Maddy on 12-12-15
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Restless
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Rosamund Pike
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Richard and Judy Best Read, 2007.
Winner of the Costa Book Awards, Novel of the Year, 2006.
A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.
Longlisted for the Audiobook Download of the Year, 2007.
What happens when everything you thought you knew about your mother turns out to be an elaborate lie? During the summer of 1976, Ruth Gilmartin discovers that her very English mother, Sally, is really Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian émigrée and one-time spy.
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A gripping and thoughtful book
- By Tom on 03-11-07
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The Dream Lover
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Funny, moving and sharply observed, these stories are confirmation of Boyd's status as one of English fiction's finest writers. Here are 24 gripping tales told in bold, distinct voices from Brazil to Africa and from Nice to Hollywood. This eclectic collection by the acclaimed author of Restless and Brazzaville Beach is a must for any lover of the short story.
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Totally Absorbing
- By Allegria on 20-04-18
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Sweet Caress
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Amory's first memory is of her father doing a handstand. She has memories of him returning on leave during the First World War. But his absences, both actual and emotional, are what she chiefly remembers. It is her photographer, uncle Greville, who supplies the emotional bond she needs, and,when he gives her a camera and some rudimentary lessons in photography, unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future.
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Kiss Myself Goodbye
- The Many Lives of Aunt Munca
- By: Ferdinand Mount
- Narrated by: Paul Blezard
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Aunt Munca never told the truth about anything. Calling herself after the mouse in a Beatrix Potter story, she was already a figure of mystery during the childhood of her nephew Ferdinand Mount. Half a century later, a series of startling revelations sets him off on a tortuous quest to find out who this extraordinary millionairess really was. What he discovers is shocking and irretrievably sad, involving multiple deceptions, false identities and abandonments.
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Magnificent family story/detective work
- By Book Groupie on 02-11-20
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Waiting for Sunrise
- By: William Boyd
- Narrated by: Jack Rowan
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Vienna, 1913. Lysander Rief, a young English actor, sits in the waiting room of the city's preeminent psychiatrist as he anxiously ponders the particularly intimate nature of his neurosis. When the enigmatic, intensely beautiful Hettie Bull walks in, Lysander is immediately drawn to her, unaware of how destructive the consequences of their subsequent affair will be. One year later, home in London, Lysander finds himself entangled in the dangerous web of wartime intelligence - a world of sex, scandal and spies that is slowly, steadily permeating every corner of his life....
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Poor Narration
- By Michael on 06-01-21
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Small Pleasures
- By: Clare Chambers
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper, disappointed in love and - on the brink of 40 - living a limited existence with her truculent mother: a small life from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young Swiss woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes strangely (and not unpleasantly) intertwined with that of the Tilburys.
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Poignant, thoughtful & beautifully crafted
- By Rachel Redford on 26-07-20
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V2
- By: Robert Harris
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On the brink of defeat, Hitler commissioned 10,000 V2s - ballistic rockets that carried a one-ton warhead at three times the speed of sound, which he believed would win the war. Dr Rudi Graf who, along with his friend Werner von Braun, had once dreamt of sending a rocket to the moon, now finds himself in November 1944 in a bleak seaside town in Occupied Holland, launching V2s against London. No one understands the volatile, deadly machine better than Graf, but his disillusionment with the war leads to him being investigated for sabotage.
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I loved the combination of fact and fiction.
- By catherine on 22-09-20
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Just Like You
- By: Nick Hornby
- Narrated by: Ben Bailey Smith, Hattie Ladbury
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The person you are with is just like you: same background, same age, same interests. The perfect match. And it is an unmitigated disaster. Then, when and where you least expect it, you meet someone new. You seem to have nothing in common and yet, somehow, it feels totally right. Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender but also brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who is not just like you at all.
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TV drama-ready!
- By Rachel Redford on 23-09-20
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Shuggie Bain
- By: Douglas Stuart
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest.
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Wonderful read
- By Moodyminx on 13-05-20
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Winner of the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award
Los Angeles, 1936. Kay Fischer, a young and ambitious architect, is being followed by an old man. When confronted, he explains that his name is Salvador Carriscant - and that he is her father.
In a matter of weeks Kay will join Salvador on an extraordinary journey as they delve back into his past to not only learn the truth behind her own birth, but also to discover the whereabouts of a woman long thought dead - and to uncover the identity of a killer.
Critic reviews
"Achingly memorable." (The Times)
"The finest storyteller of his generation." (Daily Telegraph)
"An extraordinary story." (John Mortimer, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year)